A while back, I overheard a student grumble about the inconvenience of 60% tuition strikes to those that have finished their dues and I thought “oba insensitive spoilt rich bitches’be how!” Well, not any more. I assert “Makerere students should know the University is not their grandfathers’ garden in which they pick free fruits at convenience.”
For the government to come up and ask the University Council to change a fees policy to a more favorable one is reason enough for us to stop the stupid fights and embrace the new policy.
In this new policy, the University took into account that students come from different financial backgrounds and thereby provided 3 windows in which tuition is to be paid.
First, the UGX 200,000 to be paid in two weeks of the semester is only fair. The University has to run for heaven’s sake and it won’t run on your saliva. Compare this with your high-school and you will realize that has always been the trend.
Window 1 says, a student must have paid all tuition and functional fees by the 6th week. Well, maybe that is total bull shit and you won’t do it but you have been provided with other options. Get your lazy brains at work and not hold that against the University. It is an either or circumstance.
Window 2 provides for finishing the University dues by the 12th week in a semester of 17 weeks. As in 12 weeks, literally three solid months after the beginning of the semester. I would take this to be a motherly institution to do that. The 5% overcharge for not paying deposit at the beginning is a catchy one by hey, if it was your school and you want parents to act up, would you not do the same?
The 3rd window still goes ahead to give a chance to those that can’t pay in the given time to see the Vice Chancellor for more time.
Then here comes the Issue of increment in late registration from fees UGX 50,000 to UGX 100,000. It is your education and you have to register in time. Take into account that there are students who pay tuition but wait until a day to exams to register for the semester. How do you expect the Institution to prepare for you? If it is a lot of money, then think of it as a sanction to help you act and not just to take your money.
Now apart from cheap politics being applied by the Students’ Guild, I do not see why the Guild offices should not help the students embrace the policy. We voted leaders to represent not to fight against the University.
